terms, the transcendant power of the imperial legislature, regulated only by its own discretion, and limited only by restrictions they themselves have imposed. The long experience of the past, as to a right which has always existed, is your best security for the future, that it will never be exerted, but in extreme cases; and no one would more deplore than myself, should imperious necessity ever require such direct interference. But it is unfortunate at this moment, that you could not have rather preferred a temperate appeal to the justice, than a vain denial of the rights of the British nation. The undisturbed conscious. ness of strength on the part of a great and generous people, is the surest safeguard that the nicest strengh of equity will continue to act as a self-imposed restraint, on the exercise of unusual, but indisputable power. You repeat the com. plaint, that distance, coupled with other causes not before enumerated, occasion you often to be misrepresented in the mother country; and, in reference to this, you kindly state your conviction, that my efforts will be directed by a desire to do you justice. The short experience I have yet had of Jamaica has interested me much in her welfare; and with her extraordinary natural resources, it seems impossible not to hope, that she must be destined to see better days; and any plan by which such prospects may be improved, shall always engage my immediate attention, whilst to my professed determination to report you faithfully, improved as my opinions must be by the further opportunities of observation, I will at all times adhere. But in the spirit of candour which I professed, I must recommend you to judge others as you would be judged yourselves, and to consider that distance may have prevented you also from acquiring adequate sources of information before you prejudge the report of a future house of commons on no better authority than a few scattered pledges, alleged to have been exacted from certain candidates not yet chosen for a parliament, not yet selected, who might become members of a committee not yet formed, and which committee you therefore refuse to believe can be impartial on a question on which it is impossible it can be interested. It is such premature complaints, such groundless accusations, which alienate the public mind in Europe from the cause of the colonists; and if you continue thus to speak for youselves, I much fear that it will be in vain that any one will attempt to speak for you there. "In the opinion which I have most unwillingly felt it to be my duty to express upon the tone of this address, I have endeavoured to soften every topic, even to avoid any phrase which might, through misconstruction, be injurious, by exciting erroneous impressions in the minds of certain classes within this island, or elsewhere. Under all the unexpected discouragement of this address, I shall continue speedily to pursue that course which I consider for the benefit of the colony. I am grateful for your expressions of personal good feeling. I am willing to believe that some parts of this address were not so cautiously considered by the whole house as perhaps might have been expected, on account of the importance it derives from its general diffusion as an appeal to the executive. I trust, therefore, that your further proceedings will be more in accordance with the spirit in which I have first addressed you: but under any possible circumstances, I have the greatest reliance, that not only by the present consistency of the island, but by the inhabitants in general, the motives of any act of my government will be justly appreciated, so long as I am cheered and supported by the internal conviction that I have no other object than the promotion of the welfare of all classes of the community, which his majesty has committed to my charge.' This message was referred to a committee, who made the following Report. "Mr. Speaker, Your committee, to whom was referred his excellency's speech at the opening of the session, the address of this house in an answer, and his excellency's reply; recommend to the house to come to the following resolution: "Resolved, That this house observe with regret the animadversions of his excellency the governor on some parts of their address, in answer to his excellency's speech at the opening of the session. The house disavow any intention on their part to deviate from that tone of conciliation which pervades his excellency's speech. It was the most anxious wish of the house to express to his excellency their devoted attachment to their sovereign, and their high respect and personal consideration for his excellency as governor of the island. The house, however, feel it imperative on them, and in accordance with former precedents, to declare, without meaning to offend or to infringe on the rights of others, that it is their determination, as it is their duty, to maintain steadily the privileges and immunities which the free inhabitants of Jamaica are entitled to in common with other British subjects; these are so well defined by law, and sanctioned by long usage, as not to be mistaken. The house therefore rely with per fect confidence, that whilst they confine themselves to the conscientious discharge of their duty, they will receive from the representative of their sovereign the most favourable construction of their acts and intententions which is due to them as legal and faithful subjects; but this the house must protest, on behalf of their constituents, as well as of themselves, against the doctrine stated by his excellency as applicable to this colony, which asserts as beyond dispute, the transcendant power of the imperial legislature, regula. ted only by its own discretion, and limited only by restrictions they may themselves have imposed.' Such a doctrine is as subversive of the acknowledged rights, as it is dangerous to the lives and properties of his majesty's faithful and loyal subjects of this island, who, although they acknowledge the supremacy of a common sovereign over the whole empire, never can admit such supremacy in one por ion of his majesty's subjects residing in the parent state, over another portion of their fellow subjects resident in Jamaica." Speech of the Earl of Mulgrave, dissolving the Jamaica House of Assembly. Kingston, Dec. 2, 1834. "Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Asssembly "Those considerations of public convenience which might have induced me to postpone, for a few days, the conclusion of the session, have necessarily been superseded by that unfortunate collision between the two branches of the legislature, which renders it hopeless to expect that any further business could now be brought to a satisfactory termination. "In taking the only course which is thus left to me, I do not think it necessary to make any comment with respect to the question in dispute, further than this, that those who are so ready to assert their own claim to privileges, which are not parliamentary, upon the mere plea of undisturbed assumption on their part, would have shown more discretion in not so prematurely and arbitrarily denying to others the right toa privilege which, unless with held by special provision, belongs, as matter of course, to a legislative body, which likewise appears to have been formerly recognised by the resolution of the house itself, and which is supported by the undeniable evidence of acts in the journals, which owed their origin to the second branch of the legisla ture. steadily to pursue the course which I conceived to be for the benefit of the colony, I might avoid taking immediate notice of it, and allow the public business to proceed to its close; and to that determination, I should have adhered, but for this difference between you and the other branch of the legislature, with which I have my self no direct concern; but I cannot dismiss you from your attendance here, without noticing a resolution in which you stated, that a doctrine advanced by me, was subversive of your acknowledged rights, and dangerous to your lives and properties. The doctrine you have thought fit to stigmatize, is not mine. It is one laid down by every constitutional lawyer. It is maintained by the practice of your own courts. has uniformly been asserted in official communications with my predecessors, by all successive advisers of the crown, under every different administration. When you speak, It "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House therefore, of your acknowledged of Assembly rights, I am at a loss to conceive by whom and when those rights which you now assume were ever acknowledged. The right of the imperial parliament of legislating for all his majesty's subjects, when it so thinks fit, is inherent in that body, and has never been abandoned except as regards internal taxation. The 18th of George the Third, which makes that exception, proves the general right of legislating over the colonies. You must always recollect that I never originated this discussion. The question is of your own raisingthe dispute of your own seeking; the provocation was given entirely by you, and with you must its consequences rest. When you assert a perfect equality with your fellow subjects in other parts of his majes ty's dominions, there is no doubt that, as individuals, you are all equal I must now thank you for those portions of the annual supplies which you have already voted. Your task has, in this respect, been much lightened, by the liberality of the British government, in taking upon itself the payment of his majesty's troops, during the present year. I am sure that the people of this colony will not be insensible to the double obligation which they owe to the paternal care of their sovereign, in having, at the same time, increased the numbers of the garrison, and relieved you from the charge of its subsistance, showing equal solicitude for your safety, and sympathy for your distresses. At the same time I must say, that on your side you might have consider ed, that in moments of difficulty and danger, the adequate protection of an armed force, is hardly more im. portant, than the efficient adminis. tration of criminal justice; and I therefore peculiarly regret, that at such a moment, your next act should have been the refusal of any provi sion whatever to the chief justice of the island, who had been appointed by your sovereign. "I have no intention of enume. rating the other instances in which you have disappointed my expec tations; so much of your conduct appears to court that crisis which is now arrived, that you cannot be surprised when I announce to you, that it is not my intention again to call together the present house of assembly. As soon as the circumstances of the present season render it expedient, I shall appeal to an enlightened constituency. The libe rality of that enactment, which did away with all distinctions of colour, I duly appreciate. I have no donbt that the newly-enfranchised freeholders will show they deserve the trust reposed in them, and that in its exercise, there will be no more emulation on all sides, than a desire to prove the soundness and modera. tion of their principles, the extent and devotion of their loyalty. "Gentlemen of the Council, "You are now about to return to your homes, at a moment which, after the experience of last year, it is impossible not to feel to be one of some anxiety. I have myself no ap. prehension, that any persons will be found misguided enough, again to brave the penalties of rebellion; I have the greatest confidence in the efficiency of the measures taken for the immediate suppression of any such attempt. But as the representative of my sovereign, I speak his sentiments, when I ex press through you to the slave population, that solicitous as his majesty always is for their welfare, any criminal endeavours on their parts, to wrest from their masters advantages to which they have no legal claim, can have no other effect than to draw down upon them the severest punishment. For myself, I can assure you, that no personal exertion shall be wanting on my part, to extend to you, at all times, in the most prompt and rigorous manner, that protection which it is the duty of my office to afford. On your part, I trust that, forgetting all minor differences which may have occurred between you, you will unite cordially in one common feelling, of the permanent obligation of preserving the peace and tranquillity of the country. "I now," said his excellency, "dissolve this general assembly, and it is hereby dissolved accordingly." Proclamation for suppressing the BY THE KINGA PROCLAMATION. Whereas it hath been represented to us, that divers of our subjects, resident in our island of Jamaica, have associated themselves together into certain voluntary societies, under the name of Colonial Church Unions, or other similar designations, and that public meetings of such societies have been holden in different parts of our said island, on which occasions resolutions have been entered into, for the forcible removal from our said island, of divers teachers and ministers of religion dissenting from the doctrine or discipline of the established Church of England and Ireland: And whereas it hath been further Z z represented to us, that the several resolutions aforesaid, have been printed and dispersed throughout the said island, to the great disquiet and alarm, not only of such religious teachers, as aforesaid, and of their several congregations, but of all other peaceable and well disposed inhabitants of our said island : And whereas, such proceedings as aforesaid are contrary to law, and tend to the imminent danger of the public peace in our said island: Now, therefore, we do hereby declare and make known to all whom it may concern, that we are purposed and firmly resolved, in the exercise of our lawful authority, to maintain within our said island the principles of religious toleration, and to protect and defend all our subjects and others resident there, in the public worship of Almighty God, according to their own consciences, although such worship may not be conducted according to the doctrines or disci pline of the Church of England and Ireland aforesaid, so long as such persons shall conform and be obedient to the laws. And we do hereby admonish all persons resident within our said island, that if any attempts shall be made to carry into effect any such resolutions as aforesaid, for the forcible removal from our said island of any such teachers and ministers as aforesaid; or if any such society, or any other persons within our said island, shall republish any such illegal resolutions as aforesaid, that then, and in every such case, we will enforce against all persons presuming to offend, all such pains and penalties as they may incur by such their offences; and we do hereby strictly warn and admonish our subjects, and all others resident within the said island, that they do abstain from associating themselves with every society formed, or which may |